Construction spending up a touch in June

Construction spending for June rose above the the revised May estimate, but stayed below spending a year earlier, the U.S Census Bureau reported Monday.Spending during June was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $772.3 billion, 0.2 percent above the previous month's revised estimate of $770.5 billion. June's spending was 4.7 percent below the June 2010 estimate of $810.4 billion, the Commerce Department said in a release.Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $493.4 billion, 0.8 percent above the revised May estimate of $489.6 billion, the Census Bureau said.The report said residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $235.8 billion in June, 0.3 percent below May's revised estimate of $236.5 billion. Non-residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $257.7 billion in June, 1.8 percent above the revised May estimate of $253.1 billion.The estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending in June was $278.9 billion, 0.7 percent lower than the revised May estimate of $280.9 billion, the Census Bureau said.Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $66.4 billion, 4.1 percent below the revised May estimate of $69.3 billion, the bureau said. Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $74.6 billion, 1.6 percent lower than the revised May estimate of $75.8 billion.